2013 Indiana Hoosiers

Indiana returns all but three starters. The four seniors they lost were DTs Adam Replogle (second team All-American, first team All-B1G), Larry Black Jr, and Nicholas Sliger as well as C Will Matte. Filling in at DT will be junior Leneil Himes and senior Justin Rayside (moved from DE). Taking Matte's place will be senior Charlie Chapman, who played T last year. They also lost 9 freshmen and sophomores to transfer. That won't affect them now, but it will hurt their depth in the future, next year in particular.

This year, Indiana will be starting 10 seniors (in addition to the kicker and punter) and all other positions will be starting juniors. Indiana has some playmakers, but their big issue this year is going to be depth. Aside from the QB, WR, OLB, and S positions, an injury could cause some real problems. The biggest concern coming into the year was replacing the seniors leaving at DT and C, and that was taken care of by moving a couple linemen around to different positions. With the number of juniors and seniors on the roster right now (17 seniors and 29 juniors), recruiting for the next two seasons is going to be extremely important to avoid a pretty bad year in 2015.

Their biggest playmakers coming into the 2013 season are CB Greg Heban (5 INT, 2 FF, 2 TD - second team All-B1G in 2012), MLB Chase Hoobler (116 tackles, 26 TFL, 10.5 sacks, 2 FF - second team All-American, first team All-B1G in 2012), and HB Stephen Houston (834 yards rushing, 260 yards receiving, 11 total TD in 2012). The Hoosiers saw QB Tre Roberson go down a number of times to injury, so they'll likely lean more on Houston for the rushing attack. The strength, like last year, will probably be on defense as they have a number of good linebackers and some good cornerbacks in Heban and Lawrence Barnett, with Kenny Mullen and Mark Murphy starting at the safety positions.

Last year was one of Indiana's best, and with almost everyone returning they're looking to improve. They struggled out of conference, going 1-3 with losses to Georgia, Arkansas, and Western Kentucky. They also lost to 3-9 Minnesota in OT. The most difficult part of the losses is that, other than the Big Ten Championship, they held leads (sometimes big leads) and had chances to win at the end of each game. Hopefully they can avoid the late mistakes this year and win 10 games and the Big Ten Championship.

Indiana picked up their first two recruits of the 2014 class this week, and they both fill a position of need for next season. With FB Dimitrius Carr Watson and the top 3 receivers graduating, FB and WR were both a high priority position for recruiting this year.

FB Matt Bell comes from Thomson, GA and picked Indiana over Toledo and NC State, while WR Jeff Green comes from Washington, DC and never really considered any other schools besides Indiana. Bell will be the only FB on the roster next year, so he'll need to be ready to play. Green's size should help a group of receivers that are going to be a few inches shorter next year.

After picking up 3 star QB John Dawson a couple weeks ago, Indiana picked up 6 commitments this week and have filled all but 1 need as they still need another cornerback. A couple highlights are 6'5" center Kenny Madsen and 6'7" tackle Jesse White who both had offers from rival Purdue and will add some good size to the offensive line. Through 6 weeks the Hoosiers have filled 9 scholarships and have 11 to go.

Indiana finishes up the 2014 recruiting class with 20 recruits, signing their second free safety this season. 9 players on offense, 9 on defense (5 in the secondary), and 2 special teams players. A couple highlights are WR Ryan Cox as well as four star HB Jesse Palmer who will help pick up a whole left by graduating HB Stephen Houston.